Apparatus for stenciling



y 9, 1938. J. C. SMITH 2,124,011

APPARATUS FOR STENCILING INVENTOR. 'J'CJS I'UY,

A170 EYS.

y 9, 1938. J. c. SMITH 2,124,011

APPARATUS FOR STENCILING Filed June 25, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR. JC. Smith,

BY e5 y 1938- J. c. SMITH 2,124,011

APPARATUS FOR smncmme Filed-June 25, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 J6 v INVENTOR JGSmith,

ATTO S.

7 July 19, 1938.

J. C. sMlTH APPARATUS FOR STEIIXCIILING Filed June 25, 1936 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 mmvron. g Jamitb,

ATTQV s.

July 19, 1938. J.VC. SMITH 2,124,011

APPARATUS FOR STENCILING Filed June 25, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. J: C. 57nL'6/7,

BY g z) ATTO EYS.

Patented July 19,1938 v v 2 124 011 UNITED STATES PATENTVOFFICE APPARATUS Foa STENCILING John C. Smith, Beaver, Pa.,'assignor to Solar Laboratories, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 25, 1936, Serial No. 87,163

13 Claims. (01. 101-123) The improved apparatus for stenciling comwill become more readily apparent hereinafter. prising the present invention is primarily de- In the accompanying drawings: signed for commercial use-in stenciling circular Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a stencilor substantially circular designs of vitreous ing apparatus embodying the principles of the inenamel on the peripheral areas or regions of vention; 5 vitreous or ceramic articles such as plates, dishes, Fig. 2 is a sectional view taken substantially saucers and the like. The apparatus may, howalong the line 22 of Fig. 1 in the direction inever, be employed in applying a circular design dicated by the arrows;

by a stenciling process to any article capable of Fig. 3 is a central longitudinal vertical view of receiving the same." the apparatus. In this view certain parts are 10 The principal object of the invention isto probroken away andothers are shown insection to vide an apparatus for stenciling which will efiecmore clearly reveal the nature of the invention; tively apply to the articles being treated a con- Fig. .4 isa sectional view taken substantially tinuous closed design in such a manner as to along the line ll of Fig. 3 in the direction indiv leave on the articles no trace of overlap in the cated by the arrows; 15

design yet which will insure a closed design hav- Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the stenciling aping no gap apparent therein. paratus; I The present invention is concerned with sten- Fig. 6 is a. sectional view taken substantially I oiling apparatus of the type employing a suitable along the line 6-6 of Fig. 1 in the direction ing mesh screen, portions of which are rendered imdicated by the arrows; pervious and other portions of which are left open Fig. 'I is a sectional View taken substantially to form the design to be imparted to the artialong the line 1-4 of Fig. l in the direction incles, and in which a vitreous enamel preparadicated by the arrows; 7

tion is poured upon the screen and uniformly Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a pair of toggle spread over and forced through the open porelements forming a part of a trip mechanism emtions of the screen and onto the articles by a ployed in connection with the present invention, rubber squeegee. -It is another object of the inclearly showing the detail construction of each vention to provide a machine of this type which, and the manner in which the two elements are apart from the application of the articles to and assembled; and 33 the removal of the articles from the same, is'au- Fig. 9 is a top plan view of a stencil screen tomatic in its operation and .is therefore capable employed in connection with the present invenof increased output, while at the same time an tion. I I improved -quality of work is insured by the in- The stenciling apparatus is in the form of a corporation therein of abetter method of enamel machine, involving in its general organization a distribution resulting from an improved posisupport or table H3 (Fig. 1) provided with front 35 tioning of the stencil. and rear supporting legs H and I2 respectively.

The provision of a stenciling apparatus in Boltedor otherwise secured to the upper surwhich there is incorporated improved means for face of the table at is a frame or standard l3 aligning and supporting the articles in position in the form of a relatively heavy casting designed to receive the stencil impression; improved means to operatively support thereon the greater por- 40 for holding the stencil taut in position on the tion of the operative machine instrumentalities. articles; an improved supporting means for ad- The standard l3 consists of a base portion it justaby supporting the squeegee to accommodate which projects forwardly over and beyond the articles of difierent size'and peripheral slope; an front edge of the table l0 and serves to opera- .1; automatic clutch mechanism, operable in contively support an article aligning and supporting junction with an automatic stop mechanism for chuck mechanism, the nature and function of removing the driving torque applied to the squeewhich will hereinafter be described. The extreme gee at the completion of each stenciling operaupper end of the standard [3 is provided with a -tion; and a manually operated trip mechanism forwardly extending overhead supporting arm 4'.) operable to return the driving torque to the squee- 15. which operatively supports at its outer end a gee for the duration of each individual stencilstencil framework or holder togethenwith an ing operation, are further advantageous features associated rotary squeegee assembly, both of that have been borne in mind in the production which will be fully described hereinafter. A rearand development of the present invention. wardly extending supporting arm it extends Other objectsand advantages of the invention medially from the standard 13 and overlies a portion of the table l0 and serves to support thereon a gear reduction mechanism forming a part of the squeegee driving mechanism, the

character and function of which will also be set forth later. The standard I3, together with the forwardly extending portions I4 and I5, and the rearwardly extending portion or arm l5, provide the stationary supporting structure for the various machine elements, instrumentalities, and assemblies, for supporting the same in proper relative position with respect to each other, while at the same time permitting various adjustments to be made when required.

Integrally formed on the outer end of the forwardly projecting base I4 (Figs. 1 and 3) is. a vertical guide I! provided with upper and lower bushings l8 and I9, through which there extends a vertically slidable chuck supporting rod 20, the upper end of which is reduced as at 2|. A chuck support 22'is fitted over the reduced upper end portion 2| of the rod 20. The upper end of the rod projects above the top of the chuck support, thus providing in effect a centering pin over which there may be removably positioned a chuck 23 of a size suitable to accommodate the article A undergoing decoration.

The chuck support 22 is secured against rotation about the axis of the rod 20 by a structure including a rearward extension or guide 42 having a guide opening 43 formed in the end thereof through which there projects a vertically extending guide rod 44, the lower end of which is anchored in a socket 45 formed in the base I4.

A collar 25, provided with aset screw 25, is

siidably and adjustably-mounted upon the rod 20 below the guide i1 and this collar serves as a limit stop for limiting the upward movement of the rod 20. Thus vertical adjustment of the collar 25 may be made to adjust the elevationof the chuck when the same is in its upper position in which, as will appear, the article receives its stencil impression.

The-rod 20 is designed to normally occupy its elevated position, and toward this end, an attachment ear 2! is formed on the collar 25 and a chain 28 has one end thereof secured as at 29 to the attachment ear 21. The chain 28 passes over a pulley 30 carried by the forwardly extending base I4 above the level of the collar 25, while the other end of the chain is secured to a counterweight 32, the mass of which is somewhat in excess of the mass of the vertically movable chuck supporting instrumentalities. Thus it will be seen that the upward pull exerted on the rod 20 by the. chain 28 will normally bring the rod 20 to its uppermost position with the collar 25 in abutting position on the underneath side of the guide l'l.

In order to permit the chuck 23 to be lowered at will, the lower end of the rod 20 is bifurcated as at 33 and an attachment plate 34, possessed of a limited swinging movement in one plane, is suspended from a pin 35, the ends of which are supported in the bifurcations 33. A connecting link 36, having a turnbuckle 31 interposed medially of, its ends, has one end thereof secured to the plate 34, while the other end thereof s anchored centrally to a crossbar 38 forming an element of a foot pedal assembly now to be described.

The foot pedal assembly consists of a pair of forwardly extending side bars 39, the rear ends of which are pivoted as at 40 to the rear supporting legs I 2 of the table It adjacent the bottom thereof. A foot pedal proper 4i, having its ends secured to the forward ends of the side bars, extends acrossthe front of the machine,

while the cross bar 38, above referred to, has its ends secured to the side bars 38 rearwardly oi the pedal 4!. Thus a second degree leverage is applied to the rod 20 in order to lower the article supporting chuck 22 when the operator of the machine applies a portion of his weight to the pedal 4|.

The outer end of the overhead supporting arm I 5 (Figs. 2 and 3) is provided with a bore 45 which is vertically aligned with the bore provided by the guide IT. A depending shaft 41, vertically adjustable by means of a set screw 48 extends through the bore 48 and has its lower end terminating in the vicinity of the article holding chuck 23. A crosshead 49 having a central boss 50, through which the shaft 41 extends, is mounted for vertical adjustment on the shaft 41 by means of a set screw 5| which extends through the boss 50. A pair of trunnions 52, integrally formed on the ends of the crosshead 49, extend downwardly in the direction of the article holding chuck 23 and have their lower ends secured at diametrically opposed points .to a horizontally extending stencil supporting ring 53. Removably secured to the lower surface of the stencil supporting ring 53, (Figs. 1 and 3) as, for example, by means of removable clamps 54, is a stencil supporting hoop 55. Fastened in any suitable-manner to the lower side of. the

v rying hoops, each representing a diflerent design to be applied to the articles, may be prepared and designed for interchangeable application to the stencil supporting 'ring 53.

In the operation of the machine, when the article supporting and centering chuck 23 is in its uppermost position with the article A" positioned thereon, the crosshead 43 is adjusted vertically by means of the set screw 5| so that the article will abut against the .underneath side of the stencil screen 55 to receive the stencil imprint therethrough. In order to hold the stencil screen 56 taut so that the design will be properly centered upon the article A and will not creep thereon during application of the design, the lower end of the shaft 41 has secured thereto a stencil screen holder 58 in the form of a circular plate 59, preferably formed of wood, and having a contact surface Gil formed of sponge rubber. A backing plate 6|, through which there extends a securing screw 62, forms the means by which the stencil screen holder assembly is secured to the lower end of the shaft 41. In the initial adjustment of the machine, the shaft 41 is adjusted vertically so that the stencil screen holder 58 is brought to bear against the screen- 56 with sufficient, pressure to hold the screen taut for application of the articles thereto.

In order to apply the design to the articles, a small quantity of a suitably colored, finely ground, quartz-like enamel, which has been worked to a pasty consistency with a suitable fluid carrier, is applied to the stencil screen 55 and is forced through the pervious portions thereof by means of a revolvable squeegee element 64 which is driven from a suitable source of power in a manner now to be fully set'forth.

The source of power just referred to is in the form of an electric motor 66 which is bolted or otherwise secured on the table I0 behind the machine. The outer end of the rearwardly extending arm It has a sleeve 01 formed thereon, and a supporting rod 68, having a table 69 formed on the upper end thereof, is slidably mounted in the sleeve 81 and is adjustably secured therein by means of a set screw I0. A gear speed reduction device II has its base I2 bolted or otherwise secured to the adjustable table 69 and a driving belt 'I3 passes over respective pulleys I4 and I5 mounted on the driving shaft 15 of the motor and the driven shaft 11 of the gear reduction device II.

The gear reduction device II is provided with a vertically extending driven shaft I8 upon which there is mounted a pulley I9, designed for rotation in a horizontal plane. The pulley I9 is operatively connected by means of a belt to a second pulley 8|, somewhat larger in diameter than the pulley I9. The pulley III is removably secured by means of set screws 82 to a sleeve 83 which surrounds the shaft 41 and is vertically slidable and rotatable thereon.

The sleeve 83 is provided adjacent its lower end .with a radially extending boss 84 designed to threadedly receive therein a clamping screw 85 which passes through a clamping plate 87, one end of which bears against the sleeve 83 and the other end of which serves to clamp the inner end of a squeegee holding arm 88 to the sleeve 83 in such a manner that the arm 88 occupies a tangential position with respect to the sleeve. The arm 88 extends outwardly from the sleeve 83 to a point adjacent the periphery of the stencil hoop 55 and terminates in a rounded bearing element 89 forming one element of an adjustable universal joint. A squeegee holder 98, having the squeegee 64, previously referred to, secured to its lower'end, is provided with a knife edge seat 9| interiorly thereof, which seat is caused to bear against the rounded element 89 by means of a set screw 63 carried by the holder 90 in such a manner that the holder is adjustable within limits on the end of the arm 88.

The arm 88, while tangentially mounted on the sleeve 83, is vby virtue of its tangential extent, permitted to have a radial sweep around the interior of the stencil hoop 55, in such a manner that when the sleeve 83 is in its lowermost position on the shaft 41, the enamel placed upon the upper surface of the stencil screen 55 will be passed through the pervious portions thereof and applied to the article A therebeneath.

The sleeve 83 is normally held in elevated position on the shaft 41 in order that the squeegee 64 may clear the stencil screen together with the liquid enamel thereon and is adapted to be lowered at the will of the operator. Accordingly,

the sleeve 83 is provided with a pair of spaced upper and lower external annular flanges 93 and 94 respectively, between which flanges there rides a roller 95 which is mounted on apin 96 that extends medially through a lever 91. Depending from the crosshead 49 adjacent one end thereof is a supporting rod 98, (see Fig. 2), the

upper end of which is adjustably secured by means of a set screw 99 that passes through a. boss I00 provided in the crosshead 49. The lever 91 is pivoted as at IOI medially of its ends to a stud I03 rockably supported in a bearing sleeve 86 carried by the lower end of the supporting rod 98. One end of the lever is provided with an aperture I02 which provides a means for supporting a counterweight I04 of sufficient mass to overbalance the weight of the squeegee assembly, including the'rotatable sleeve 83 and therevolvable squeegee arm 88. The other end of the lever 91 projects outwardly from the machine and is readily accessible to the operator, who, by depressing the same causes the roller 95 to bear against the lower radial flange 94 to lower the squeegee assembly until the squeegee engages the stencil screen 56.

The revolvable squeegee assembly has associated therewith an automatic stop mechanism which, in addition to limiting the revolution of the squeegee to one complete revolution for the application of a complete closed design in which no trace of overlap is present-to each succeeding article placed in the machine, also operates in the manner of a clutch to remove the application of driving torque to the squeegee assembly at the end of each revolution thereof. Toward this end, a flat metal bracket I05, having a pair of circumferentially extending slots I06 extending through the same, is adjustablysecured for limited radial adjustment to the upper face of the pulley BI by means of clamping bolts I01 which extend through the slots I86 and are threadedly anchored in the body of the'pulley M. The bracket I05 is provided with a radially extending arm I08 which projects over the circumferential edge of the'pulley 8| and provides one element of the automatic stop and clutch mechanism.

A finger I09 (see Figs. 6, 7 and 8) forming a counterpart of the arm I08, is designed to be engaged by this arm tolimit the rotational movement of the pulley 8| at the end of each stencil operation. The finger I09 is pivoted as at IIO to a bracket III formed on a collar II2 forming an element of a trip mechanism subsequently to be described. The finger I09 is possessed of limited swinging movement as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7 and its movement is limited in one direction to such dotted line position by means of an abutment II4 formed on the bracket III. The finger I09 extends downwardly below the plane of the pulley 8I and the lower. portion thereof abuts against one end of a lever I I5 which is secured for swinging movement in a horizontal plane to-the reduced end N6 of a stud shaft II1 rockably journalled in asleeve II8 carried by a bracket II9, bolted or otherwise secured to a vertical portion of the stand I3. The rear end of the lever H5 has mounted thereon an idler tension pulley I20 which, upon swinging movement of the lever I I5, is moved into and out of engagement with the driving belt 88 and is normally held in belt engaging position by means of a spring I2I, one end of which is anchored as at I22 to the standard I3 and the other end of which is anchored as at I24 to the lever I I5 medially thereof.

In the normal belt engaging position of the lever I I5 and idler pulley I20, the belt 80 is held taut so as to frictionally engage the pulley 8I and drive 'the revolving squeegee mechanism above described. Upon completion of each stenciling operation, the arm I engages the finger I09 and urges the same-into its limiting position as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 7, thus swinging the lever I I5, carrying the pulley I20, into the inoperative dotted line position shown in Fig. 6 to release the tension in the belt ill and permit the pulley a forwardly projecting arm I29 having a set screw Y III! extending therethrough designed to engage the underneath side of the overhead portion ID of the standard I! to limit the rocking movement of the shaft I in one direction, while a similar set screw IJI extending through a depending portion I32 of the bracket I28 is designed to engage the bracket I I I formed on the collar I I2 and limit the rocking movement of the shaft in the other direction. A spring I38 applies a torque to theshaft I25 to normally urge the shaft into, its limiting position as determined by the set screw I".

The rockable shaft I2! is held against lateral shifting by means of a pair of collars. I secured to the shaft I25 outside of the sleeves I26. One end of the shaft I25 isextended laterally and outwardly from the bracket I28 and has secured thereto a manually operable lever III which extends forwardly in the machine. The collar II2, having formed thereon the bracket II I which pivotally carried the depending finger I08, is secured centrally to the shaft I25, and thus it will be seen that when the operator of the machine depresses the lever III to rock the shaft I25, against the action of the spring I", the collar H2 is rocked about a transverse horizontal axis to swing the bracket III and finger III! bodily rearwardly to clear the radially projecting arm.

mounted on the pulley II. In this manner, the tension on the spring III is released and the forward end of the lever III is swung to the full line position shown in Fig. 6 so that the pulley I20 engages the belt 80 to remove the existing slack therein and cause the same to frictionally engage the pulley 8| and thus set the squeegeeassembly into operation in the manner previously described.

Modifications may be resorted to within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim: I

1. Apparatus for applying a continuous series of designs to an article by a stenciling process comprising an article holder, a stencil screen arranged for stationary contact with one face of I the article and having pervious areas representing a continuous series of designs, means for forcing a coloring material through said pervious areas onto the article, and means automatically terminating the color applying operation immediately upon completion of the application of a single continuous series of designs to the article.

2. Apparatus for applying aclosed band of designs to an article comprising an article holder, a stencil screen having pervious areas representing the closed band of designs, a squeegee, means for effecting relative movement between the screen and squeegee with the two elements in contact with each other to force a coloring material through said pervious areas onto the article, and means automatically arresting said relative movement between the screen and squeegee immediately upon completion of the application of said screen for forcing coloring matter through said pervious portions onto said article, and means for I adjusting the inclination of said squeegee to accommodate the inclination of said sides.

4. In an. apparatus for selectively stenciling continuous closed bands of designs on the base or on the inclined marginal regions of saucer-shaped articles, a removable screen having pervious portions adjacent the periphery thereof, means for positioning the inside of an article against the underneath side of said screen in intimate coextensive contact therewith, a radially and angularly adjustable squeegee element mounted above said screen for revolution about a central axis and designed to sweep the peripheral areas of said screen for forcing coloring matter through said pervious portions onto said article, and means for vertically adjusting said squeegee element.

5. In an apparatus for stenciling designs on articles, a stencil screen having peripheral pervious portions representing the design to be applied to the articles, an article support movable toward and away from said screen for operatively positioning' an article against the underneath side of said screen, means normally urging said support into operative 'position, a squeegee element normally positioned above said screen and out of contact therewith, means for revolving said squeegee about thecentral axis of said support, and means for lowering said squeegee into contact with the peripheral portions of said screen.

6. In an apparatus for stenciling continuous designs on articles, a stencil screen having continuous series of pervious portions representing the design to be applied to the articles, means for positioning an article in contact with said screen to receive an impression therefrom, a revolvable squeegee movable around the central axis of said article and in. contact with the peripheral portions of said screen for forcing coloring matter through said pervious portions onto said v article, means for revolving said squeegee, and

means for rendering said last mentioned means inoperative at the completion of one revolution of said squeegee.

7. In an apparatus for stenciling continuous designs on articles, a stencil screen having a continuous series of pervious peripheral portions representing the continuous design to be applied to the articles, article supporting means movable toward and away from said screen for-permitting articles to be individually and successively applied thereto, a revolvable squeegee movable around the centralaxis of said design and in contact with the peripheral portions of said screen for forcing coloring matter through said pervious portions and onto each succeeding article, means for revolving said squeegee, and means for arresting movement of said squeegee and for rendering said revolving means inoperative upon completion of each revolution of said squeegee.

8. In a stenciling apparatus having a stencil screen provided with a continuous pervious portion extending around the periphery thereof and representing a design to be applied to an article positioned in contact therewith, a stationary shaft axially aligned with said screen, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft, a squeegee mounted on said sleeve in engagement with said screen adjacent the periphery thereof and revolvable around said shaft upon rotation of said sleeve, a driven pulley mounted on said sleeve, a driving pulley, a lever, an idler pulley mounted on-said lever, a belt mounted in frictional driving relation on said pulleys, said lever upon movement in one direction causing said idler pulley to move out of engagement with said belt to discontinue said driving relation, an abutment on said driven pulley and a cooperating finger positioned in the path of said abutment and adapted to be engaged thereby upon completion of each revolution of said driven pulley to limit the rotational movement of the same, said fingerupon being engaged by said abutment being movable into contact with said lever to move the same to belt releasing position.

9; In a stenciling apparatus having a stencil screen provided with a continuous pervious portion extending around the periphery thereof and representing a design to be applied to an article positioned in contact therewith, a stationary shaft axially aligned with said screen, a sleeve rotatably mounted on said shaft, a squeegee mounted on said sleeve in engagement with said screen adjacent the periphery thereof and revolvable around said shaft upon rotation of said sleeve, a driven pulley mounted on said sleeve. a driving pulley, a lever, an idler pulley mounted on said lever, a belt mounted in frictional driving relation on said pulleys, said lever upon movement in one direction causing said idler pulley to move out of engagement with said belt to discontinue said driving relation, an abutment on said driven pulley, a cooperating finger positioned in the path of said abutment and adapted to be engaged thereby upon completion of each revolution of said driven pulley to limit the rotational movement of the same, said finger upon being engaged by said abutment being movable into contact with said lever to move the same to belt releasing position and a trip mechanism for moving said finger out of engagement with said abutment.

10. In an apparatus for applying a design to the inclined peripheral areas of saucer-shaped articles, an article support, a screen having pervious portions adjacent the periphery thereof, means for. maintaining the periphery ofsaid screen elevated with respect to an article undergoing decoration, means bearlng against the central region of said screen to hold the peripheral regions thereof taut and in intimate contact with the inclined areas of said article, a squeegee, andintimate contact with the inclined areas of said article, and an inclined squeegee mounted for revolution around a central axis and designed to sweep the peripheral areas of said screen for forcing coloring material through the perviousportions thereof and onto the inclined areas of said article. I

12. In an apparatus for applying a design to the inclined peripheral areas of saucer-shaped articles, an article support, a screen having pervious portions adjacent the periphery thereof, means for maintaining the periphery of said screen elevated with respect to an article undergoing decoration, means bearing against the central region of said screen to hold the peripheral regions thereof taut and in intimate contact with the inclined areas of said article, a squeegee, means for effecting relative movement between the screen and squeegee with the two elements in contact with each other to force coloring material through said pervious portions onto the inclined areas of said article, and means automatically arresting said relative movement between the screen and squeegee immediately after completion of the application of a complete design to said inclined areas.

13. In an apparatus for stenciling continuous designs on the frusto-conical rim portions of saucer-like articles, a stencil screen having a frustoconical surface, means for mounting saidscreen with the frusto-conical portion thereof in coextensive contact with the frusto-conical rim portion of an article to be decorated, and means for forcing coloring material through the frustoconical portion of 'said screen and onto the frusto-conical portion of the article.

JOHN 0. SMITH. 

